


How It's Supposed To Be

by happycookiie



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe-Zone, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babies, Established Relationship, F/M, Kissing, Romance, baby talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 17:22:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6204157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happycookiie/pseuds/happycookiie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl's never thought about being a father before, but after seeing Beth's face when she looks at Maggie's pregnancy scan, he's starting to re-consider. She wanted a child before, and everyone can tell she'd be good at it by the way she handles Judith. So Daryl thinks, since it's her, and she makes him feel like he has a chance... He might be able to give her what she might not say all the time out loud, but undoubtedly wants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How It's Supposed To Be

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Beth is alive and on the bus when they pass the ultrasound picture around and Daryl sees how Beth looks at it and when they get back home he tells her "you know, I could give ya one if ya want it" -and she totally does.
> 
> I hope you like it, lovely anon that sent me this fab prompt!

Daryl's never thought about being a father before.

Can you really blame him, with the prick of a dad he had? Any memory of parental actions or love were limited, if not completely non-existent, and after all that, Daryl finds he's been turned off of the idea of being in that position himself. Because what if he turned out the same? What if after all those years of fearing, loathing, and hating the man who gripped the title of _dad_ … he became the very same abomination?

But when he looks at Beth from across his seated position in the RV, her eyes glued to Maggie's ultrasound scan and her fingers tenderly brushing the paper, he finds it's suddenly the only thing he can think about. The corners of her mouth twitch when she gazes at the scan, almost as if she's going to smile, and there's a light in her eyes in that moment. A tiny glimmer — a vivid wonder. And Daryl sees that sparkle from where he's sat and remembers her words from when they were together.

She said she wanted Glenn and Maggie to have a baby, but she never mentioned whether or not _she'd_ want the same.

At least not to him.

Carol brought it up once, on the topic of children and caring for them in this world.

_Beth said she wanted child… Before this. Always had._ _She'd be good at it. You can see with the way she looks after Judith._

Daryl agrees. She would be good at it, but because of the damn apocalypse happening, she never got the chance.

Until the thought occurs to him.

When they get back to the safe zone, it's dark and most of the residents are asleep in their houses. The gates open for the RV to drive in and they close behind them, giving them that sense of false security once more. He follows Beth out of the vehicle and back to the houses, and waits as she waves a goodnight to Maggie, who goes with Glenn into their room, happily holding the pregnancy scan in her hands. Beth's eyes follow the piece of paper as it vanishes behind the white wooden door, and Daryl watches her.

Her lips twitch again and she wears a tiny smile, before glancing up at him to find him staring.

"What?" she asks quietly, and he shrugs.

"Nothin'."

"That wasn't your _nothin'_ face. What's wrong?"

He squirms.

What's wrong? Nothing is _wrong_. Not in the way she thinks.

"Upstairs," he says finally, "C'mon. I'll tell ya up there."

"Okay…"

She waits for him to start walking before following him up the stairs, and he can feel the confusion and intrigue emitting from her as he climbs the wooden steps. When he gets to the top, he turns and holds out a hand for her to take, but as she reaches for it, she trips on the top step and stumbles forward.

His arms automatically wind around her waist to keep her up and crush her to his front, her hands having flown forward and planted on his chest to keep herself upright. She looks flushed, probably embarrassed about her clumsiness, but Daryl's faint colouring is entirely different in nature.

He covers her mouth with his before she can pull away and holds her to him, shoving his tongue into her open mouth and lapping at hers brazenly. She recovers from the slight shock eventually, and shoves her arms around his neck, yanking at the ends of his hair to jerk him closer. He grips her waist and walks her against the wall, kisses so rough and intense that her head knocks against the wood and draws sharp gasps from her and the _smack!_ of her lips against his are messy and frenzy. Her hand combs up into his hair and she threads her fingers through his knotty locks and pulls, and he gasps so hard against her mouth that he falls forward and presses his knee into the space between her legs.

Her leg comes up and hooks around his hip, holding his leg so that it presses harder into the scorching heat of between her thighs, and she quite literally grinds herself against him, all the while still kissing him furiously.

Swirling his tongue around hers, he finally breaks away from her lips with a trail of saliva and pants, and then moves to attack her neck. He presses his lips to the hollow of her throat and drags his tongue across it, scraping with his teeth occasionally and making her release a shameful moan that causes her to tilt her head back further against the wall.

As he's doing this, his hand moves across her waist and travels under her bunched up shirt to grab the hot flesh beneath, and she bucks her hips against him violently, sending a warm flood of friction to his already pulsing cock.

But then she suddenly stops.

He wonders what's wrong before he looks up and finds her frozen in shock but yet nearly laughing at something in the hallway, so he tilts his head back and finds the object of her slightly horrified yet _amused_ outburst.

Eugene stands there just outside the bathroom door, looking every bit as awkward as he always does, and Daryl feels the traces of laughter bubbling in his chest as Beth bursts out into a fit of giggles and hides her face in his shoulder.

"I was simply on my way to inform somebody downstairs that we are out of the once-necessity-now-luxury that is toilet paper, and that we require some more as quickly as possible," Eugene spouts, "I did not know that anyone would be out here rubbing up against each other like it was New Year's Eve but allow me to get past and–"

"Fuck off, Eugene." Daryl cuts him off, making Beth giggle harder against his shoulder, and he nearly laughs then as well.

"That is an understandable statement given the situation," Eugene nods, walking past them and towards the stairs, "Carry on."

After he's gone, Beth laughs louder but covers her mouth with a hand, and Daryl turns back to look at her.

Their faces are still close, and he reaches up to take the hand that's covering her mouth and removes it. She stares at him with the hilarity glowing in her eyes and wears an immensely bright smile, and he finds himself smiling back. He leans in and kisses her again, this time less aggressive than before. She's smiling against his mouth and she stifles a giggle when he cups her cheek with his hand and angles her face so that he can kiss her deeper.

_I thought Glenn and Maggie would have a baby._

Her fingers press into the back of his neck and urge him on, the giggles fading into gentle sighs and moans against his mouth.

_That's how unbelievably stupid I am._

She's not stupid, not in the slightest bit, but if she was… he knows he'd be stupid too.

_They're havin' a baby, jus' like you said. And now… You can too. If ya want. Only if you want…_ Whatever _you want._

_It's all for you, Beth. It was all for you._

She laces her fingers through his and flashes a giddy smile, and leads him through the door to their bedroom.

_Their_ bedroom. His and hers; the place they've made for the both of them.

He pushes the door shut behind them and watches as she goes and sits on the bed, before leaning down and working at untying her boots. Daryl stands in that spot by the door, lips still bruised from their kissing, and he can see the gentle blush on Beth's cheeks even from that distance.

She sits up and looks at him when she's got them off, and the smile on her face hasn't even come close to fading.

"Are you comin' to bed?" she asks, and his heart still flutters out of normal sync at that question.

_With me. Are you coming to come and lay down and sleep with me? And not just sleep… Kiss. Touch. Are you coming to lay down and touch with me?_

He nods.

"Yeah."

Leaning down and removing his boots, he sees her plant her hands down on the sheet and sit at a sort of leaning angle, her head cocked to the side in that bird-like inquiry, and then he knows there's other things than just sleeping on the itinerary for tonight.

_If you want._

The leather vest jacket is next, it peeling from his upper torso and dropping to the floor soundlessly. Beth watches him remove his outdoor clothing carefully, her head now fully leaned sideward and resting on her shoulder, and his cock is standing up against the confines of his jeans at the sight of her casual coyness.

_I can give that to you if you want me to._

_Only if you want._

"Daryl?" she hums lowly.

_Whatever you want._

"Hm?"

"When are you gonna tell me what it was you said you were gonna tell me?"

He sucks in a deep breath and starts unbuttoning his shirt, steadily striding over to where she's sat on the edge of the bed.

Her eyes follow him as he stalks closer and he sits down on the bed next to her, hands falling stationary in his lap, as he balls the fabric of his open shirt.

"I saw the way you were lookin' at the ultrasound on the way back," he says quietly, "Got me thinkin'."

"About what?"

"About Maggie an' Glenn, an' what they're doin'… Startin' a family. Here. Havin' a baby."

_Just like you said._

"They're doin' that and I… I wanted…"

He looks at her, words awkward and broken, and she inhales lightly at the sudden intensity of his smouldering gaze.

He's never really thought about being a father, but he thinks with her it wouldn't go the way it had with his dad. He thinks with her he has more than a chance, and that's what she's always given him.

A chance.

"I was thinkin' that… _we_ could have that. That I could give _you_ one… If you want."

_We could be that way, because that's how it's supposed to be._

Beth's cheeks are pink and her eyes are glistening with growing tears, and for a second Daryl thinks he's done something wrong. Got the wrong assumption, said the wrong thing, just typical Daryl Dixon stuff… Until she smiles wider.

A great big _massive_ smile that he's never seen before, and she breathes an exhilarating laugh, before leaping forward and launching herself at him. She throws her arms around him and squeezes him tight, and his arms curve around her waist warily.

" _Yes_ ," she nods against his neck, "Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes. I'd love nothin' more than for you to give me that."

_For you to give_ us _that_ , he feels her mouth.

"I wanna have that with you, Daryl. I want that more than anythin'."

He hugs her tighter and pushes his goofy smile to her shoulder. She's giggling wildly now, apparently uncaring of anyone else in the house who might be sleeping or at least trying to, and Daryl comes closer to genuinely laughing than he has in his entire life.

_She makes me happy_ , he'd told Rick on the topic of his and Beth's relationship. _She does, an' I think I make her happy… I ain't never done that for someone before._

_I know you lost something back there._

_I did, but now I found it again._

"It's you," he whispers into her ear, "Beth. Ya wanted t'know, an' now ya do. It was you, Beth. Was always you."

She whimpers.

_Oh god, Oh god, Daryl._

"You gave me so much, you gave me everythin', girl, so I wanna give you this. I want this with you, 'cause it's _you_."

_Oh, Daryl._

After a few more helpless giggles and sighs, she pulls away from his neck and gives him the kindest of smiles, the most tender expression he's ever seen her wear, and he swallows a choky breath.

"How can you always say you're so bad with words?" she shakes her head, "You're not, you're so not."

He shrugs with a smirk of his own.

"Guess they just come to me when I'm wit' you."

"Well they can keep coming in that case, 'cause I'm not goin' anywhere."

"Not tonight, at least."

That devilish glint in her eyes, and that giant smirk as she blinks demurely and leans her forehead against his. "No," she purrs, "Not tonight."

_Maybe not ever_.


End file.
